Round 2 for Williams begins in rarefied air of Colorado

DENVER —— For his first start in a Padres uniform in four years,
Woody Williams certainly could have chosen a more favorable venue
than Coors Field.

The mile-high ballpark with the paper-thin air is dreaded by
pitchers far and wide, but Williams has had a particularly rough go
of it there. In four career games, the Padres' right-hander has
allowed 28 earned runs in 19 2/3 innings for an unsightly 12.81
ERA.

"Not good," Williams said simply when asked about his history in
Denver.

He hastened to tack on a qualifier.

"But I haven't pitched there in a long time," he said. "I'm a
different pitcher now. I'm not saying that anything will change,
but I feel a little bit more confident now in myself."

Williams will take that confidence to the mound today against
the Colorado Rockies. He got the Opening Day nod from manager Bruce
Bochy weeks ago, as spring training dawned.

When Williams last took the mound at Coors, in 2001, he was soon
to be traded from the Padres to the St. Louis Cardinals with a
career win-loss mark below .500. When he takes the mound this
afternoon to open the Padres' 2005 season, the 38-year-old veteran
will do so with one of the best recent track records in the
National League.

In St. Louis, Williams was a vital cog on clubs that reached the
playoffs three times in his 3 1/2 seasons there, including the
World Series last fall. Dealt for outfielder Ray Lankford in August
2001, Williams went 7-1 with a 2.28 ERA for the Cardinals in the
final two months and shut down the Atlanta Braves in the division
series.

That performance was merely a prelude, as Williams concluded his
Cardinals tenure with a 45-22 record and 3.53 ERA.

When Kevin Towers signed Williams to an incentive-laden,
one-year contract last December with a 2006 option —— he replaces
the departed David Wells atop the Padres' rotation —— he recalled
the Lankford swap as the worst during his decade as Padres general
manager.

"He doesn't throw quite as hard as he used to, but he knows how
to pitch," said Padres pitching coach Darren Balsley, a teammate of
Williams in Toronto's minor-league system in the late 1980s. "He
has a knack for how to get hitters out, and he can put the ball
where he wants to. And his athletic ability doesn't hurt him,
either."

Appreciating the organization's role in his maturation as a
pitcher, Williams hoped to stay with St. Louis. But when the
Cardinals declined his $8 million option for 2005, he turned his
eyes west as a free agent.

"I've always had a place in my heart for San Diego and the way
the fans and the city took to me," said Williams, who pitched for
the Padres from 1999-2001. "When they called and were serious about
me coming back, it was a very easy decision for me to make."

Williams tuned up for Opening Day in fine fashion, toying with
helpless San Diego State hitters while throwing five scoreless
innings in the Padres' 6-0 victory over the Aztecs on Wednesday
night. It marked his first start at Petco Park after pitching in
Qualcomm Stadium during his previous stint in San Diego and doubled
as good preparation for his regular-season debut there on
Saturday.

"When we get back off the road, it won't be foreign to me," he
said. "I'll be able to go out there and feel comfortable. It's
going to be nice when it's filled up, for sure."